Diabetes, a blood-related issue that affects the metabolism of the body, is one of the most common issues affecting the world these days. There have been more cases of diabetes popping up than it ever was and the trend isn’t seemingly going to discontinue overnight.
But the thing with diabetes is that although it seems all dull and gloomy it isn’t the end of the world. Diabetes can, in fact, be curbed and managed with time. A proper healthy lifestyle paired with a proper diet regime is what helps in managing diabetes and regulating your body. But that’s not all.
A premier advice to help control and regulate diabetes is exercise. People all over the globe suffering from diabetes are strongly advised to maintain a regular exercise in a bid to manage the blood sugar levels and reduce any nuisance of diabetic signs affecting you.
We here would be looking into the relation between diabetes and exercise and seek its benefits for our health. We’ll specifically seek answers for the relation between the Type 2 diabetes and exercise for today’s entry. We’ll further look into the precautionary methods required before indulging in the exercise as part of our foray too.
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Type 2 Diabetes and Exercise
Having a proper exercise regime during Type 2 diabetes helps to manage the blood sugar levels of the body and keep it away from the risks for cardiovascular related issues. Our body’s muscle parts are often resting in the lack of exercise.
This resting and lack of muscle movement lead to higher blood sugar levels as the glucose isn’t used up by the body. However, when this muscle moves around, the blood sugar levels get decreased substantially. Furthermore, exercise helps in stress management, weight control and having a healthier heart.
Why is Exercise an important part of our life?
Exercise apart from helping around in strengthening the cardiovascular system is also known to boost the immunity system of the body. Exercise helps in maintaining athletic skills, offers muscle movement and helps in being fit.
Here’s what benefits regular exercise can offer to you:
- Improving mental health.
- Enhancing the sleep quality and energy.
- Boosting self-esteem and confidence.
- Reducing the risks for stress and depression.
- Protecting from future risks of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
Furthermore, exercise is known to cut down on your risks for major illness and health issues by almost half with the early risk of death reduced by almost one-third. Regular exercise will help you with putting away from illness like
- Heart Disease
- Stroke
- Cancer
- Type 2 Diabetes.
What counts as Exercise?
As per the prevailing facts by medical societies and all, completing over 150 mins of physical activity over a week counts as an exercise for the body. However, as a matter of perception, a daily ritual of 30 mins’ physical workout is what simplifies exercise as the best.
Exercise includes activities that offer moderate to higher intensity resulting in an increase in heart rate and the sweat levels. Normally activities like jogging, running count along as an exercise while sports activities like badminton, rowing, tennis and more would offer the even better option.
But do bear in mind that your homely activities like cleaning off your home or indulging in daily chores or even mowing the lawn won’t count necessarily towards the daily exercise regime. The reason for it, that these acts are less demanding that the physical workouts and hence don’t increase the body’s heart rate or more. A sedentary lifestyle will put you at a risk for being overweight and suffering from chronic cases like heart and diabetes related issues. It’s always best advised to lead a healthy life filled with a daily exercise regime.
Precautions and Preventive Measures When Going for an Exercise
Although exercise is one of the best means for being fit and in shape, patients with the diabetic case should proceed to indulge in exercise with some precautions. These precautions help the person to avoid any problems that may occur when indulged in improper exercise.
Precautions are definitely required upon when a person is involved in medications that help in lowering the blood sugar levels. A person with too much medication or even too much of carbohydrate relative to the exercise can see themselves suffer from hypoglycemia. Moreover, the combined effects of food and medication prior to the exercise can also cause an imbalance in the body.
We’ll talk in brief about the host of precautions needed to be taken for patients with medications or other issues when involving in exercise down below in specific segments. Read along.
What are the specific precautions required for people with medications?
For patients with insulin or oral medications, indulging in exercise requires some degree of precaution. We’ll enlist the precautionary measure for you down below for you:
- A blood sugar level below 100 mg/dl prior to exercise will require a carbohydrate diet before indulging in the exercise.
- A person with a blood sugar levels of over 100 mg/dl prior to exercise will need carbohydrate only during or at the end of the exercise.
- Patients suffering from hypoglycemia will require lowering their medications on the days when they indulge in exercise so that the blood sugar levels don’t interfere with your exercise routine.
- For people indulging in high-intensity exercise or in long duration ones, additional carbohydrate intake should be suggested at an interval or every 30 to 60 mins. Long duration or high-intensity activities involve playing football, biking, hiking and more.
- Always have a standby fast releasing carbohydrate snack alongside yourself when indulging in exercise as that helps to control any dips in blood sugar levels in between the exercise.
- Lastly, always have some sort of ID alongside you at all times when indulging in exercise. This way, even if you are exercising alone and unexpected happen, someone can assist you properly at the earliest.
What are the specific precautions needed for people with heart issues?
For patients suffering from heart issues alongside their diabetic signs, it’s strongly advised to consult with your endocrinologist or diabetes specialist before indulging in any exercise. A prior diagnosis and advice will help you to put your body at exercise in a better way. Moreover, activities like heavy lifting, press ups or any acts that affect the heart should be minimized during these times. Don’t dare put any strenuous tasks for your heart.
What are the precautions for diabetic patients with foot problems?
As of norm, most of the exercise requires movement of the feet. Most of the exercise are done with the help of feet and for those patients with foot related issues as a result of diabetes should seek better prevention that others.
Read Also: Diabetic Foot Pain Problems & Treatment
Patients with foot issues are strongly advised to wear proper foot gear that doesn’t affect your feet movement and reduce the friction points on the feet as much as possible. Seek advice with your doctor on the matter and get the best option possible for your feet. Not to forget, always wear cotton socks that are absorbent in nature.
The Bottom Line
Exercise is a very important aspect of life and more so in the case of diabetic patients. Having a proper exercise routine will help you manage your blood sugar levels better and be quite healthy. But there needs to be some degree of precaution along with the exercise regime for the diabetic patients as the workout may hamper the health in an adverse way. Seek help from your doctor and have a personalized program for yourself. That works the best always.
Well, that’s all from us on this one. We’ll be back with another one the next time round. Till then, stay safe and stay healthy.
One comment on “Type 2 Diabetes and Exercise: What are Its Precautions & Benefits?”
If you have Type 2 Diabetes you should avoid any kind of vigorous exercise that makes you pant for air or sweat. Just stick to physical activities that do not force you to mouth-breathe or sweat. With anaerobic exercise you greatly risk a critical overload of blood glucose because insulin will not be able to deliver glucose to muscle and liver cells due to insulin resistance. This may be aggravated by insufficient insulin secretion from the pancreas, making it even more difficult to bring down the level of glucose. This can be controlled to some extent through careful medication, but the best solution is to avoid such exercise.